Before the Bell: Hot Stocks to Watch

By

Dave Kansas

Mar 22, 2011 8:31 am ET

Some hot stocks to watch this morning, courtesy of our friends at Dow Jones:

Research In Motion Ltd. will make its upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet available in more than 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada. Best Buy said the tablet will be available from its stores on April 19, starting at $499.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. expects lower first-quarter earnings due to severe winter weather and a lag in fuel recoveries. It puts first-quarter earnings at 12-22 Canadian cents a share.

Hot Topic said longtime Chief Executive Betsy McLaughlin has resigned effective Monday and would be succeeded by board member Lisa Harper. Shares rose 5.% to $5.42 in after-hours trading.

Shutterfly said it would buy a privately held operator of two online cards and stationary websites in a deal it valued at $333 million, while it also raised its revenue guidance for the current quarter. Shares in the Internet photo-publishing company were down 1.8% at $42.26 after hours.

MetLife said Chief Investment Officer Steven R. Kandarian will become the life insurer’s president and chief executive, succeeding C. Robert Henrikson, who in 2012 will reach the company’s executive management mandatory retirement age. Shares were down 0.9% to $44.20 in after-hours trading.

Grubb & Ellis Co. said it hired investment firm JMP Securities LLC to explore strategic alternatives, which could include a potential sale or merger of the commercial real-estate and investment company. Shares of Grubb & Ellis jumped 11% to $1.09 in after hours.

James River Coal Co. said it plans to sell six million shares of its common stock, as the company looks to raise proceeds to fund a portion of its $475 million acquisition of privately held producer International Resource Partners LP. Shares of James River slid 4.% to $22.25 in after-hours trading.

Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. unveiled another plan to sell shares of its common stock, with an offering of at least 19 million that could increase its number outstanding by roughly 38%. Shares fell 3%, to $21.51 in after-hours trading.

Specialty finance company Chimera Investment Corp. board said it would pay a 14-cent dividend for the first quarter, an 18% decrease from the prior quarter’s payout. Shares were down 2.3% at $4.18 after hours.

Jaguar Mining Inc.’s fourth-quarter loss narrowed thanks to higher prices for gold, but the adjusted loss for the mining and exploration company widened as it reported weaker output and higher average costs. Its common stock traded in the U.S. rose 1.5% to $5.33

Cephalon Inc. agreed to buy a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on cancer treatments for $225 million in cash. The company, also a biopharmaceutical maker, could pay stockholders of Gemin X up to an additional $300 million in cash payments for regulatory and sales milestones.

An arbitration panel ruled against railroad company Norfolk Southern Corp. on an insurance claim linked to a 2005 derailment in South Carolina, resulting in about $58 million in expenses to be included in the current quarter’s results.

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